Taser Was Used Multiple Times, Woman Claims

North Florida Officials Justify Their Actions

April 21, 2005|By Ihosvani Rodriguez Miami Bureau

A mentally ill woman who now lives in Fort Lauderdale claims jail officials in North Florida jolted her with a Taser gun at least 15 times on Easter Sunday after she was arrested for not checking out of her motel room on time.

Jail officials in Okaloosa County confirmed Wednesday that corrections officers stunned 47-year-old Patricia Skelly numerous times, but insisted the actions were justified because the 110-pound woman showed an enormous amount of strength when she battled officers during a bipolar manic attack.

Corrections officers also stunned Skelly later at a hospital when doctors and police officers were not able to control her, according to reports.

Her attorney, Ellis Rubin, said he plans to file a complaint with the FBI.

"I really don't know how I am still alive," said Skelly, who moved to Fort Lauderdale with her brother after the incident. She spoke to reporters during a news conference at Rubin's office on Wednesday.

An internal investigation by the Okaloosa County Department of Corrections into the incident determined that Skelly has a history of bipolar disorder and was released from a psychiatric hospital in Vermont months before moving to North Florida. Corrections officials in Okaloosa County justified the use of force.

According to a Valparaiso Police Department report, an officer went to the Budget Inn on March 27 after a manager complained that Skelly had not checked out on time and was not responding.

The officer gave her 20 minutes to leave but when he returned an hour later found Skelly still in the room. He arrested her for trespassing.

According to an April 11 investigation report by jail officials, Skelly was calm when first brought into the jail. But after an officer removed her handcuffs, Skelly became combative, the report said. A female officer fired the 50,000-volt Taser when Skelly refused to go into a holding cell.

Skelly fell and hit her head on the concrete floor, causing a cut above her right eye that needed three stitches, the report said. When Skelly continued to fight with officers, they stunned her again.

After the Taser did not fire correctly, an officer used the stun gun as a "hand-held" device and stunned Skelly "an undetermined amount of times," said the jail's director, Larry Caskey.

Skelly said she pretended she was dead to stop officers from stunning her.

"It was one jolt after another, and all I could do was pretend they killed me," she said.

Officers stunned Skelly a final time at the North Okaloosa Medical Center, where she struggled with doctors and officers, the report said.

Caskey said officers followed policy dictating the use of a Taser on the mentally ill, but admitted he was at first skeptical of their actions.

"I looked at this with a very critical eye, but for the life of me I can't see how we would've done anything differently," he said. "You had to see how she was acting."

Ihosvani Rodriguez can be reached at ijrodriguez@sun-sentinel.com or 305-810-5005.